Synopsis: Welcome to Caraval, where nothing is quite what it seems. Scarlett has never left the tiny isle of Trisda, pining from afar for the wonder of Caraval, a once-a-year week-long performance where the audience participates in the show. Caraval is Magic. Mystery. Adventure. And for Scarlett and her beloved sister Tella it represents freedom and an escape from their ruthless, abusive father. When the sisters’ long-awaited invitations to Caraval finally arrive, it seems their dreams have come true. But no sooner have they arrived than Tella vanishes, kidnapped by the show’s mastermind organiser, Legend. Scarlett has been told that everything that happens during Caraval is only an elaborate performance. But nonetheless she quickly becomes enmeshed in a dangerous game of love, magic and heartbreak. And real or not, she must find Tella before the game is over, and her sister disappears forever. A mesmerising, magical and stunningly imaginative debut novel for anyone who loved The Night Circus and Daughter of Smoke and Bone.

Wow. I’m not even sure where to start with this review. I finished Caraval a few days ago, and I’m still trying to process all of the crazy, insane things that happen in this book. But, since the book releases today, I figured I would do my best in writing a coherent review!

Hello again my fellow book nerds! Today I’m finally putting up my entry post for a year-long challenge that I’ve been wanting to participate in for a while!

The lovely bloggers Austine and Tia over at Novel Knight are hosting Beat the Backlist, a challenge meant to help readers make a dent in their huge TBRs, or even just read some of those older books that keep getting pushed aside in favor of new releases. Considering I currently have a TBR of 140+ books, I definitely fit in that category.

If I’m being honest with myself, I know I have zero hope of ever fully completing my TBR. I buy books at least three times as fast as I read them, so unless I took a few years off and did nothing but read, I’m always gonna have an ongoing TBR list.

BUT – there are quite a few books that have been sitting on my shelf for maybe 2 or 3 years that I’ve never gotten to. Yeah, it’s pretty bad. That’s why I’m hoping Beat the Backlist can help me finally read those books!

Synopsis: Kaz Brekker and his crew have just pulled off a heist so daring even they didn’t think they’d survive. But instead of divvying up a fat reward, they’re right back to fighting for their lives. Double-crossed and left crippled by the kidnapping of a valuable team member, the crew is low on resources, allies, and hope. As powerful forces from around the world descend on Ketterdam to root out the secrets of the dangerous drug known as jurda parem, old rivals and new enemies emerge to challenge Kaz’s cunning and test the team’s fragile loyalties. A war will be waged on the city’s dark and twisting streets―a battle for revenge and redemption that will decide the fate of magic in the Grisha world.

I feel stupid even including all that information and the synopsis, because chances are every single person reading this post already knows all about this book. But, to be a good little blogger and make everything look “official,” I included it anyways. I’m weird, okay?

But this is my first ever review on this blog! And it’s not just any review – coincidentally, the first book I finished this year also happens to be the sequel to my favorite book in the history of ever. This review will contain very light spoilers for the previous book, Six of Crows.

And let me tell you – Crooked Kingdom managed to snag a place in my heart right next to Six of Crows. At this point I can’t even differentiate between the two. This series just means the world to me.

Hello bookworms! I’m about a week late in creating this post, thanks to school, but I really wanted to start off my year of blogging by mentioning some of the 2017 book releases that I’m looking forward to! A few of the books have already been released, but I since I haven’t actually read most of them yet, I’m gonna include them anyways.

After compiling a list of all the books on my to-buy list for the year, I realized that there were kiiiind of a lot. Like, “30-more-books-than-I-was-expecting” a lot. So I’ve decided to make this a two-part venture! This post (Part 1), is all the book releases in the first half of 2017 (January – June) that I’m excited for! Part 2 of the list (book releases from July-December) will be posted later in the year if I haven’t become totally broke and homeless yet. Also as the year goes on, more book releases for the fall/winter season will be announced, so I’m sure my list wouldn’t be fully complete if I posted it all now.

Alright, here we go. My first ever blog post. I cannot tell you how nervous I am while writing this. So much time and effort has already been invested in creating this blog. But, for that reason, I am beyond excited to finally be putting out some real content!

My name is Mia, and I’m a teenage bibliophile from Florida! Besides books, I’m quite obsessed with animals, Disney, Chick-fil-a, and scented candles. I’ve been a part of the book community for a little over a year, since I first created my bookstagram account. I also have a booklr (bookish Tumblr), Twitter, and Goodreads. Truthfully, I can’t imagine life before I discovered the online world of readers. It’s brought so many amazing people into my life already, and I can’t wait to meet tons more through my adventures in blogging!

If for some crazy reason you actually want to learn more about who I am, I’ve listed a whole bunch of random facts over on my About page. Maybe we have a whole bunch in common and I’m not just a lonely weirdo. But telling you about myself is not what I’m trying to accomplish with this post.

Most likely, you’ve ventured onto this blog to read some cool stuff about books. Well, I’m here to tell you a bit more specifically what I plan to do with my corner of the Internet, and ask you guys what you want to see!

Since I am a teenager, 95% of what I post will be about Young Adult fiction. Within that genre, probably about half of what I read is fantasy, while the other 50% is a variety of genres including contemporary, sci-fi, and historical fiction. That isn’t to say that I will never post about an adult or middle-grade novel, just with less frequency.

Here are the kinds of posts that I already plan on publishing:

Book reviews (duh)

Monthly wrap-ups/hauls

Unboxing posts (whenever I have something to unbox)

General reading/life updates

Progress on my yearly challenge(s)

Book releases that I’m looking forward to

Cover reveals

Reactions and thoughts on any current events in the publishing world or book community

Pretty much anything else I can think of

So now that you have a general idea of what I’m planning to do, hopefully you’re as excited as I am! Starting a blog is something I’ve been wanting to do for ages and it’s so insane to finally see my dream being brought to life. Obviously, as time progresses and I start to figure things out, I’m sure the variety of posts that I create will expand and become more refined.

Now, I have questions for YOU (and please answer them, I really need the help!!!) Beware, there are a lot.

Are there any kinds of posts you would like to see that aren’t on my list? What kinds of posts do you want to see the most of? Do you have any tips for starting up a good book blog? I’d love to hear them! Do you have a book blog yourself? Comment your URL and I’ll definitely check it out and probably follow you too! What are some of your favorite book blogs? Give me ALL your best recommendations! Okay, I’m finally done interrogating you all. Thank you for reading, and here’s to the great adventure ahead!

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Meet the Blogger

Hello fellow bookworms! My name is Mia and I'm a Floridian teenager who spends the majority of her time sleeping, snacking, and doing mounds of homework. I live with one cat (who thinks she's royalty) and one dog (who's treated like royalty). I much prefer fantasy to reality, and Leigh Bardugo is my Queen.